1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a trailer with a hopper bottom for transporting bulk material such as grain and more particularly to a hopper bottom trailer that can be converted to transport other cargo.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Trailers with hopper bottoms have a main frame supported by an axle assembly at the rear and supported by an axle assembly at their front end or by a fifth wheel. One or more hoppers are suspended below the main frame in positions spaced from the axle assembly or axle assemblies. Each hopper has one or more walls that extend downward and inward toward each other to a discharge opening. A closure member closes the discharge opening. The closure member can be moved to allow bulk material such as grain to flow through the discharge opening.
Walls are attached to the main frame and extend upwardly. The two side walls extend substantially vertically upward. End walls also extend vertically upward from the main frame. Because the hopper or hoppers have to be spaced to the front or to the rear of axle assemblies. The portions of the trailer floor above the main frame and forward or aft of a hopper must slope upwardly and forward or aft from a hopper or from hoppers. The angle of these portions of the floor must be sufficiently steep to insure that all grain slides down the floor even when the grain does not slide well due to natural stickiness, to moisture content or to contaminants such as weeds. Hopper bottom trailers have all sloping floors so that when the discharge opening or openings are open all the grain will slide out under the force of gravity.
A trailer with floors that slope at a moderately steep angle is only useful for transporting bulk material such as grain. The inability to transport other types of loads such as header attachments for grain harvesting machines may make the use of hopper bottom trailers impractical for some potential users. To move hopper bottom trailers from one grain field to another may require that a special trip be made to move an empty grain trailer and another transport system may be required for moving a header assembly for example. Moving from one grain field to another in such circumstances becomes expensive especially if the grain fields are separated a substantial distance.